Comments on: A new product, a new word

By: Word of the Year? | The Vook Blog

Word of the Year? | The Vook Blog — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:15:51 +0000

[...] we didn’t miss this item in this morning’s Globe and Mail that demonstrated our company name (as we’ve mentioned before) is fast becoming a catch-all for every sort of enhanced book. Apparently, dictionary creators and [...]

By: Eremeeff

Eremeeff — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:15:41 +0000

Interesting, I`ll quote it on my site later. Eremeeff

By: VIcki Vanvalkenburgh

VIcki Vanvalkenburgh — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:00:59 +0000

As a recovering attorney, I worry a little about the trademark implications of vook becoming a generic term since it’s also the company name. As generic terms have no trademark protection, it follows that the Vook company –if vook becomes a generic term, will lack some valuable trademark protections against competitors. Ownership of the domain vook.com will likely obviate much of the confusion between Vook and other companies, but maybe not all. It’s hard to anticipate the implications of such a development 10-20 years down the road, but it might be worth thinking through a bit. For instance, when Xerox Corp. realized that “xerox” was becoming a generic term for the products of its machines, it successfully defended the trademark by clarifying that its machines produced “photocopies” and that the term Xerox applied only to the machines made by Xerox Corp, rather than to the copies they produced. In that vein,it might be a good idea to devise a generic term for the product Vook.com produces before competitors enter the field.

By: Maria Thurrell

Maria Thurrell — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:33:46 +0000

True. But look at Kleenex or Scotch tape. Those are brand names that became generic terms. So it does happen.

By: Mike Cane

Mike Cane — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:26:35 +0000

I think it’s safe to say that anyone seeing the term “vook” will know it’s from Vook the company. This is what happens when the implications of a company name aren’t thought through.